


Professor [1]

by NightmareGuardian



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 02:51:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13401882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightmareGuardian/pseuds/NightmareGuardian
Summary: A normal girl gets pulled into the adventure of Time Travel.





	1. An UnEarthly Child

The bell rang and everyone but Susan Foreman and [Scarlett Williams](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/e/e0/Scarlett_Williams.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180117181131)

left. The teacher had asked them to stay behind. Well, she'd asked Susan to stay behind and Scarlett decided to stick with her. They were just waiting for Ms. Wright to get a book for Susan.

"Wait in here, please, girls. I won't be long," Ms. Wright told them. She left.

Scarlett moved to sit on a desk in front Susan.

Susan turned on and was listening to _'John Smith and the Common Men'_ on a handheld radio.

Scarlett wasn't overly fond of the band, but she was just sketching Susan. She had been for a while from another day, but was still working on it.

"Having fun over there?" Susan asked, glancing at the redhead.

Scarlett gave a small smile, not looking up front her paper. "I'm nearly done." Her voice wasn't an English accent, but a bit American.

Susan didn't know how a New Yorker ended up in an English school, but Scarlett wouldn't tell her. She walked over to her, turning down her music. "How can you draw me while I'm dancing? Don't you need a still image?"

"I got you at the perfect moment and I have a photographic memory so I remember it."

"Alright." Susan shrugged, turning her music back up and continuing dancing. That's what the girls liked about each other. Neither one questioned things too much. Especially when it came to the other.

Ms. Wright came in and Mr. Chesterton came in right behind her.

Neither girl noticed them, too focused on their activities.

"Girls?" Ms. Wright called.

They both jumped. Susan whirled stood. "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Wright. I didn't hear you coming in. Aren't they fabulous?" she asked about the band.

"Who?" the history professor asked.

"John Smith and the Commoners. They've gone from nineteen to two."

Mr. Chesterton . "John Smith is the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?" he said, full of fun facts.

"You are surprising, Mister Chesterton. I wouldn't expect you to know things like that. 

"I have an enquiring mind. And a very sensitive ear."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She turned the radio off.

Scarlett sighed in relief. "Thank you," she murmured at the same time Ian said it.

Susan turned to playfully glare at Scarlett who shrugged, not caring in the slightest.

"I didn't say anything about it. He did!"

Susan turned, seeing the book in Barbara's arms. "Is that the book you promised me?" she asked.

"Yes," Barbara replied. She handed it to Susan. 

"Thank you very much. It will be interesting. I'll return it tomorrow," Susan proposed. She walked over and began packing her bag. 

"Oh, that's not necessary. Keep it until you've finished it." 

Scarlett lifted her head, glaring playfully at Susan. "Oh, she'll have finished it." 

Susan grinned impishly. 

"Oh, where do you live, girls? I'm giving Miss Wright a lift, I've got room for a few more.

"No, thank you, Mister Chesterton. I like walking through the dark. It's mysterious," Susan added. 

"Be careful, Susan, there'll probably be fog again tonight," Ms. Wright reminded. 

"Mmm," Susan hummed. 

The teachers turned to Scarlett. "Scarlett, would you like a ride?" they offered. 

Scarlett tilted her head. "You're leaving now?" she asked. 

"We are," Ian confirmed. 

Scarlett put her hand on her purse and straightened. "May as well. I don't find the foggy dark quite as alluring as Susan." She hopped down, pulling her pencil skirt down farther and put her bag over her shoulder. She moved over to kiss Susan on the cheek. "Goodnight," she bid. 

"See you in the morning," Ms. Wright also bid. 

"I expect so. Good night." 

"Good night." 

"Good night, Susan," Mr. Chesterton stated. 

Scarlett dug through her bag. "You don't usually offer to take students home, Mr. Chesterton," she said, using her behind to open the door for her teachers. "What are you doing?" 

"We want to find out what it is about Susan. She has her home address as #76 Totter's Lane, but I went there and there wasn't a house! Just a junk yard," Ms. Wright stated. 

"So?" 

"We're going to watch the house and see where she goes." 

"You're going to stalk my best friend?" the New York accented girl asked. Suddenly, she shrugged. "Take me with you."

"You sense there's something different about her too?" 

"No, I just want to see your face when you realize there's a perfectly reasonable explanation and you 2 decided to stalk an innocent girl." 

* * *

The small group were parked in front of a junk yard. Scarlett was in the backseat. had a roll of yarn in her purse and a crochet needle in her hand. She was absently crocheting while looking around the windows. 

"Over there." Ms. Wright pointed. 

"We're lucky there was no fog. I'd never have found this," Ian told her. 

"Well, she doesn't seem to have arrived yet. I suppose we are doing the right thing, aren't we?" Ms. Wright asked. 

"You can't justify curiosity," 

"But her homework?" she tried. 

"A bit of an excuse, really, isn't it? I've seen far worse. The truth is, we're both curious about Susan and we won't be happy until we know some of the answers." 

"And... you're both nuts," Scarlett told them, wrapping a piece of yarn around her chain and needle. 

Ms. Wright ignored her. "You can't just pass it off like that. If I thought I was just being a busybody, I'd go straight home. I thought you agreed she was a bit of a mystery." 

"Yes, but I think you'll find there's a very simple explanation to all this.

"At lease one of you sees sense," Scarlett muttered. 

"Well, I don't know how you explain the fact that a fifteen year old girl does not know how many shillings there are in a pound," Ms. Wright stated. 

"Really?" Mr. Chesterton reiterated. 

"Really."

"I don't either!" Scarlett stated. 

"You're from America. She said she thought we were on the decimal system." 

"Decimal system?" he repeated again. 

Scarlett sighed. "I remember that. Everyone was laughing at her." She shook her head, continuing her 

"I suppose she couldn't be a foreigner? No, doesn't make sense. Nothing about this girl makes sense. For instance, the other day I talking about chemical changes. I'd given out the litmus paper to show cause and effect-" 

"-And she knew the answer before you'd started," Ms. Wright tried to finish. 

"Well, not quite," Scarlett supplied. "The answer just didn't interest her." 

"She meant it. These simple experiments are child's play to her," Ian added. 

"And yes, that is strange, but you're focusing on her strangeness too much. It's a part of her and it's wonderful!" 

"You know, it's almost got to the point where I _deliberately_ want to trip her up," Ms. Wright stated. 

"That's mean," Scarlett muttered. 

"Yes. Something like that happened the other day. I'd set the class a problem with A, B and C as the three dimensions. She wanted to add D and E dimensions," Mr. Chesterton said like it was the most preposterous thing in existence. 

"Too many questions and not enough answers," Ms. Wright commented. 

"You're asking too many questions. You need to start accepting it. That's what History is all about." 

"Stupid? Or just doesn't know?" Mr. Chesterton wondered aloud. "So, we have a fifteen year old girl who is absolutely brilliant at some things, and excruciatingly bad at others." 

Scarlett opened her mouth to make a snarky comment when Barbara cut her off.

"There she is," she said. 

Indeed, Susan walked along the sidewalk, looked around, then went into the scrap yard. 

"Look, can we go in now? I hate to think of her alone in that place." 

"If she is alone. Look, she is fifteen. She might be meeting a boy. Didn't that occur to you?" he asked. 

"I almost hope she is," Barbara joked. 

"What do you mean?" Ian laughed. 

"Well, it would be so wonderfully normal." They went to get out, but Barbara stopped. "It's silly, isn't it? I feel frightened. As if we're about to interfere in something that is best left alone." 

"Yes, it is," Scarlett said before getting out. 

It took them a few seconds, but the adults got out and followed. They get out of the car.

"Well, don't you feel it?" Ms. Wright asked. 

Scarlett rolled her eyes at her, pulling out a flashlight. 

"I take things as they come. Come on," Ian said. 

Mr. Chesterton also had a flashlight. There was no sign of Susan. "What a mess. We're not turning over any of this stuff to find her."

"Over there?" Ms. Wright proposed as she didn't have a flashlight. 

Mr. Chesterton tripped over something metal or tin. "Blast. I've dropped it." 

"What?" 

"The torch." 

"Well, what'd you go and do that for?" Scarlett asked. 

Mr. Chesterton huffed at her. 

"Well, use a match," Ms. Wright told him. 

"I haven't got any," he told her. "Oh, never mind. Scarlett has a torch."

"Flashlight," the New Yorker corrected. "Mine's a flashlight."

Ms. Wright rolled her eyes. "Susan?" she called. 

"Susan? Susan? Susan! Susan. Mister Chesterton and Miss Wright. She can't have got out without us seeing her," Mr. Chesterton muttered. 

"Ian, Scarlett, look at this," Ms. Wright called. She was standing beside a police telephone box.

Mr. Chesterton walked over to it. "It's a police box! What on earth's it doing here? These things are usually on the street. They're-" He put his hand on the box, stopping himself. "Feel it. Feel it. Do you feel it?" 

Scarlett stood a bit behind them, her jaw slack.

"It's a faint vibration!" Ms. Wright realized. 

The flashlight slipped from Scarlett's hand. _'The bigger on the inside box,'_ she thought. _'The wedding box.'_  

Ian jumped, turned around, and picked it up. He put it back in her hand. "What's wrong?" he asked. 

"You two should go," she murmured. 

"What ever are you talking about?" He turned back around. "It's alive," Mr. Chesterton exclaimed. He walked around it. "It's not connected to anything, unless it's through the floor." 

"Look, I've had enough. Let's go and find a policeman," Ms. Wright stated. 

"Yes, all right," he agreed. They went to leave when someone coughed. 

"Is that her?" Ms. Wright asked. 

Scarlett shook her head. "It sounded masculine." 

"Quick," Ian hurried them. He went back for Scarlett, dragging her to hide. 

They hid as an old man in Astrakhan hat and a long scarf entered the yard. He went to the police box and put a key in the lock.

"There you are, Grandfather," Susan's voice called. 

"It's Susan," Ms. Wright realized aloud. 

"Shush!" Mr. Chesterton ordered. 

The man stopped, looking toward them. 

Ian came from the hiding place. 

"Excuse me," he greeted. 

"What are you doing here?" the man asked, defensive of anyone getting near his TARDIS. 

"We're looking for a young girl," Mr. Chesterton defended. 

"We?" the man asked. 

"Good evening," Ms. Wright greeted, coming from hiding as well. 

Scarlett stood, waving. 

"What do you want?" he demanded. 

"One of our pupils, Susan Foreman, came into this yard," Ian explained. 

"Really? In here? Are you sure?" the man questioned. 

"Yes, we saw her from across the street," Barbara asked. 

The man turned away. "One of their pupils, not the police, then," he muttered.

"I beg your pardon?" Ian asked.

"Why were you were spying on her? Who are you?" he questioned. 

"Who are you?" Scarlet asked. 

"I'm the Doctor," he replied. 

"No, you aren't. The Doctor is a lanky 9-year-old." 

The Doctor looked surprised at the description. "I assure you, I am the Doctor and I am not a 9-year-old." 

"We heard a young girl's voice call out to you," Mr. Chesterton said. 

"Your hearing must be very acute. I didn't hear anything." 

 _'Rule 1: the Doctor lies,'_ Scarlett remembered. 

"It came from in here," Barbara said, nodding to the box. 

"You imagined it," the Doctor insisted. 

"I certainly did not imagine it," Barbara retorted. 

"Young man, is it reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that, hmm?" the Doctor told him. 

"Would it therefore be unreasonable to ask you to let us have a look inside?" 

The Doctor turned, noticed, and went to an ornate picture frame. "I wonder why I've never seen that before. Now isn't that strange. Very damp and dirty," he noted. 

"Won't you help us? We're two of her teachers from the Coal Hill School. We saw her come in and we haven't seen her leave. Naturally, we're worried," Barbara tried. 

"Have to be cleaned." He glanced up at her. "Hmm?" Setting the painting down, he walked over to her. "Oh, I'm afraid it's none of my business. I suggest you leave here."

Mr. Chesterton walked over to the Doctor who was now by the blue box. "Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't in there. And frankly, I don't understand your attitude."

"Yours leaves a lot to be desired. Now, hers." He pointed to Scarlett. "Hers is lovely. You should follow your daughter's example." 

"He's... _not_ my dad." 

"Will you open the door?" Mr. Chesterton asked. 

"There's nothing in there!" the Doctor insisted. 

"Then what are you afraid to show us?" Mr. Chesterton argued. 

"Afraid?" the Doctor reiterated. "Oh, go away," he tried to shoo them. 

Mr. Chesterton turned to Ms. Wright. "I think we'd better go and fetch a policeman." 

"Very well." 

"And you're coming with us."

"Oh, am I? I don't think so, young man. No, I don't think so." The Doctor walked past them. 

"We can't force him," Barbara whispered to Mr. Chesterton. 

"But we can't leave him here. Doesn't it seem obvious to you he's got her locked up in there? Look at it. There's no door handle. There must be a secret lock somewhere," he stated. 

"That _was_ Susan's voice," Barbara agreed. 

"But of course it was. Susan! Susan! Susan, are you in there? It's Mister Chesterton and Miss Wright, Susan." 

"Who's to say she's in there against her will?" Scarlett asked. 

"She's in a box!" Ms. Wright exclaimed. 

"Don't you think you're being rather high-handed, young man? You thought you saw a young girl enter the yard. You imagine you heard her voice. You believe she might be inside there. It's not very substantial, is it?"

"But why won't you help us?" Ms. Wright asked, sounding whiney. 

"I'm not hindering you. If you both want to make fools of yourselves, I suggest you do what you said you'd do. Go and find a policeman." 

"While you nip off quietly in the other direction." 

"I'll stay here and watch him," Scarlett proposed. 

Mr. Chesterton and Ms. Wright nodded, leaving. They were just outside the door when Scarlett reached inside her shirt and pulled out her [necklace](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/8/8c/TARDIS_key.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180117223734). 

The Doctor stared at her in shock. He reached out, taking it from her. He turned to the door, unlocking it. 

Scarlett watched. 

"Oh and Scarlett!" Mr. Chesterton called. "What are you doing?" he demanded. 

"What are you doing out there?" Susan called. 

"She _is_ in there!" 

"Close the door!" the Doctor yelled.

Scarlett turned to obey. 

"Barbara!" Ian yelled. 

Barbara wedged her foot between the door and the doorway, pushing her way inside. 

Ian struggled with the Doctor before following her. 

Scarlett shrugged, following. She found herself in a very big room, with chair, hat stand, various other pieces of furniture.

Susan standing at a six-sided console in the centre of the room. 

The Doctor walked in behind her, putting his hand on her back to push her forward gently. "Close the door, Susan. I believe these people are known to you," he ordered. 

Susan turned, flipping the switch. "They're two of my schoolteachers. What are you doing here?" 

Scarlett walked over beside her.

"Where are we?" Barbara asked. 

The Doctor approached Susan. "They must have followed you. That ridiculous school. I knew something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long." 

"But why should they follow me?" Susan asked. 

"Is this really where you live, Susan?" Ms. Wright asked. 

"Yes." Susan nodded. 

"And what's wrong with it?" the Doctor asked. 

Scarlett took a deep breath. "I think it is wonderful." 

"But it was just a telephone box," Ian argued. 

"Perhaps," the Doctor "confirmed". 

"And this is your grandfather?" Ms. Wright questioned. 

"Yes." 

Ms. Wright turned to the Doctor. "But why didn't you tell us that?" 

"I don't discuss my private life with strangers," he declared. 

"But it was a police telephone box. I walked all around it. Barbara, you saw me. Scarlett, I walked around it!" Mr. Chesterton exclaimed 

The Doctor walked across the floor. "You don't deserve any explanations. You pushed your way in here uninvited and unwelcome." 

Barbara grabbed Ian's jacket. "I think we ought to leave.

"No, just a minute" Mr. Chesterton walked over to the Doctor. "I know this is absurd, but I feel-" 

The Doctor started examining an ornate clock. "Oh dear, dear, dear, dear. This is very-"

"I walked all round it!" he insisted. 

"It's stopped again, you know, and I've tried. Hmm? Oh, you wouldn't understand," the Doctor muttered, mostly ignoring Ian. 

"But I want to understand," Mr. Chesterton tried. 

Doctor didn't look like he cared as he walked across the room. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. By the way, Susan, I managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament. It's an amateur job, but I think it'll serve." 

"It's an illusion. It must be," Mr. Chesterton decided. 

The Doctor seemed to take notice of him again. "What is he talking about now?" he asked his granddaughter. 

"What are you doing here?" Susan asked. 

"They wanted to know why you were so strange,. I told them to accept it. Needless to say, they did not listen." She spun, looking up. "This is...." 

"You don't understand, so you find excuses. Illusions, indeed? You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms," the Doctor attempted. 

"Bigger on the inside, Time Lord science," Scarlett murmured. 

The Doctor turned to her. "How do you know that?" 

"Oh, I need to...." She lowered herself to the ground to sit. "They were just stories!" she muttered to herself. 

Ian ignored her, turning to the Doctor. "No," he answered the previous question. 

The Doctor also got back to the matter at hand. "But you've discovered television, haven't you?" He turned to Susan. "Who's the girl you wanted to show the TARDIS?" He pointed to Ms. Wright and Scarlet. 

Susan pointed to Scarlett. 

"I can see why." 

"Well, yes," Mr. Chesterton replied. 

"Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen, you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?" 

"Well, yes, but I still don't know-" 

"Not quite clear, is it. I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't," he laughed. "Never mind. Now then, which switch was it? No. No, no. Ah yes, that is it. The point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you, hmm?" The Doctor turned to Susan. "They'll tell everybody about the ship now."

"Ship?" Mr. Chesterton reiterated. 

"Yes, yes, ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know," the Doctor said mockingly. 

"You mean it moves?" Ms. Wright asked disbelievingly. 

"The TARDIS can go anywhere," Susan told them. 

Ms. Wright looked down a her. "TARDIS? I don't understand you, Susan." 

"Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space. I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside." 

"Just let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere in time and space?" 

"Yes," Susan confirmed. 

"Quite so," the Doctor added. 

Mr. Chesterton shook his head. "But that's ridiculous!" he exclaimed. 

Susan turned to her grandfather. "Why won't they believe us?" she demanded. 

"How can we?" Barbara asked. 

Scarlett slowly stood. "You saw it. And seem to have forgot he said 'what's going to happen to you now'," she said. 

The Doctor put his hands on Susan's shoulders. "Now, now, don't get exasperated, Susan. Remember the Red Indian. When he saw the first steam train, his savage mind thought it an illusion, too." 

"You're treating us like children," Mr. Chesterton complained. 

"Am I?" the Doctor questioned. "The children of my civilization would be insulted." 

"Your civilization?" Ian reiterated. 

"Yes!" Scarlett answered. "I remember this bit." She turned to the Time Lords. "You left home." 

"More or less," the Doctor agreed. He turned back to Mr. Chesterton. "Yes, my civilization. I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it. Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day." 

"It's true," Susan told them. "Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming in here." She turned to the Doctor, turning him around. "Grandfather, let them go now, please. Look, if they don't understand, they can't, they can't hurt us at all. I understand these people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand." 

The Doctor walked away and Susan looked slightly hopeful. "No." 

"He can't keep us here!" Mr. Chesterton exclaimed. 

"Then you shouldn't have come," Scarlett said. She propped her elbow on the console and had her chin propped on her fist. "I've been told stories about the Doctor since I was a child." 

The Doctor turned to her. "How? Who are your parents?" 

Scarlett leaned forward. "Spoilers," she whispered, reminding the readers that she was American. 

Ms. Wright walked over to her, turning her around. "Susan, listen to me. Can't you see that all this is an illusion? It's a game that you and your grandfather are playing, if you like, but you can't expect us to believe it." 

"It's not a game!" Susan insisted. 

"But Susan, it's-" she tried and failed to pacify her. 

"It's not!"  

Scarlett rubbed her forehead. "You can twist it however you like! The point is, Mr. Chesterton, you walked around it. Ms. Wright, how long did it take?" 

"About 2 seconds," Ms. Wright replied. 

"Mr. Chesterton, walk around the room. How long does it take?" she asked. Scarlett whirled where she stood, holding out her hand to point along all the walls. 

"More than 10 seconds!" he replied, not even having to do the exercise. 

"So, how is it an illusion? Walk... around... the room!" she ordered. As he did so, Scarlett huffed, walking to sit in a chair on the other side of the console, across from the door. "So disbelieving," she muttered. 

The Doctor chuckled at her. 

"Look, I love your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life," Susan told Barbara. 

"But you are one of us. You look like us, you sound like us," she insisted. 

"So does he!" Scarlett said, pointing to the Doctor. "And confirmed he was from another civilization." 

Susan nodded in agreement. "I was born in another time, another world." 

Mr. Chesterton walked back over to them. "There are more rooms," he told them, looking a little pale. "Now look here, Susan, you. Oh, come on, Barbara, let's get out of here." He dragged Martha to where the door was, but it had closed. 

The TARDIS rang as the doors wouldn't budge. 

"It's no use, you can't get out. He won't let you go," Susan told them. 

The Doctor laughed. 

"He closed the doors from over there. I saw him." He walked over to the console.

"No, you didn't. Susan closed the door," Scarlett said tiredly. 

"Now, which is it? Which is it? Which control operates the door?" Mr. Chesterton asked. 

Susan walked over to Scarlett. "Are you alright?" she asked. 

"Yep!" Scarlett confirmed. "I sometimes get these spouts of exhaustion." She shook her head. "I'll be fine." 

"You still think it's all an illusion?" he asked. 

"I know that free movement time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard!" 

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Maybe it's supposed to stay hidden. Think about it. It's time travel. Maybe we won't discover its secrets in our lifetime, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist in our lifetime." 

The Doctor turned to her. "You are very bright."

Scarlett smiled, giving him a thumbs up. 

He turned to Ian. "You, however. Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance." He started laughing. 

"Will you open the door? Open the door!" he demanded as the Doctor laughed. Mr. Chesterton turned to Susan. "Susan, will you help us?"

"I mustn't," she responded in a squeak. 

"Very well, then. I'll have to risk it myself." He walked back over to the console. 

"I can't stop you," the Doctor stated. 

"Don't touch it! It's live!" Susan warned a moment too late. 

Ian got an electric shock from the console. He fell back. 

"Ian!" Ms. Wright called. She turned to the Doctor. "What on earth do you think you're doing?"

Susan, who was now kneeling in front of Mr. Chesterton, turned to the Doctor as well. "Grandfather, let them go now, please," she requested. 

"And by tomorrow we shall be a pubic spectacle, a subject for news and idle gossip," he responded aggressively. 

Scarlett stood, walking over to Mr. Chesterton, and grabbed his hands, bringing them up to her eyes. "You're fine." She pushed them back down to him. 

"But they won't say anything," Susan told him as she stood. 

"My dear child, of course they will. Put yourself in their place. They are bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities, or at the very least talk to their friends. If I do let them go, Susan, you realise of course we must go, too." 

Susan looked appalled at the idea. "No, Grandfather, we've had all this out before-" 

"There's no alternative, child."

"I want to stay! But they're both kind people. Why won't you trust them? All you've got to do is ask them to promise to keep our secret!" 

"It's out of the question," he replied. 

"I won't go, Grandfather. I won't leave the twentieth century. I'd rather leave the TARDIS and you."

"Now you're being sentimental and childish."

"No, I mean it," she insisted. 

"Very well. Then you must go with them. I'll open the door." He walked over to the console. 

"Are you coming, Susan?" Barbara asked, being completely insensitive to the fact that she just gave up her home and the last of her family. She stood beside a now standing Ian. 

Scarlett walked around the console to stand beside the Doctor. "That's not opening the doors," she whispered in his ear. "That's alright. I'll be staying!" she announced loudly, walking around the console and holding on so she wouldn't get jolted so much. 

True to what Scarlett said, instead of flipping the switch to open the doors, the Doctor started the time rotor moving.

"Oh, no, Grandfather! No!" She ran and started pushing him to stop him from moving them any more. 

"Let me go," he ordered. 

"No!" she responded. 

"Get back to the ship, child. Hold it," he ordered. "You too, Scarlett." 

"I already am!" Scarlett replied. 

Ian and Barbara were thrown from side to side. The Doctor, Susan, and Scarlett had the sense to hang on to the console. Eventually, Barbara landed in the chair and Ian on the floor. The TARDIS headed off with a lot of noise. 


	2. The Cave of Skulls

As they landed, Scarlett jumped up and down. "Where are we? When are we?" she asked excitedly. 

The Doctor and Susan chuckled at her a bit. 

Ms. Wright slowly came to. She leaned forward, shaking Mr. Chesterton. "Ian?" she called. "Ian."

"I'm all right." He slowly sat up. "I must have hit my head. The movement's stopped," he noticed. 

"The base is steady," Susan told her Grandfather. 

"Layer of sand, rock formation. Good," the Doctor reported. 

"We've left 1963." 

"Oh, yes, undoubtedly. I'll be able to tell you where presently. Zero? That's not right. I'm afraid this yearometer is not calculating properly. Hm! Well, anyway, the journey's finished." He turned to the teachers. "What are you doing down there?" the Doctor asked. 

"But we're still on Earth?" Scarlett asked. 

"What have you done?" Ms. Wright demanded. 

"Barbara, you don't believe all this nonsense," he demanded. 

"Well, look at the scanner screen," Susan told them. 

The Doctor gestured to the screen above and ahead of them. "Yes, look up there. They don't understand and I suspect they don't want to."

The teachers got up and walked to the console. 

"Well, there you are. A new world for you." 

"Sand and rock?" Mr. Chesterton asked. 

"Yes, that's the immediate view outside the ship."

Ms. Wright looked at the Doctor. "But where are we?' she asked. 

"You mean that's what we'll see when we go outside?" Mr. Chesterton demanded, disbelievingly. 

"Yes, you'll see it for yourself," Susan confirmed. 

"I don't believe it," Mr. Chesterton laughed. 

"You really are a stubborn young man, aren't you?" the Doctor asked. 

"Come on, Mr. Chesterton. Leap of faith," Scarlett whispered. 

The Doctor walked around the console. 

"All right, show me some proof. Give me some concrete evidence. I'm sorry, Susan, I don't want to hurt you, but it's time you were brought back to reality." 

Susan leaned forward. "But you're wrong, Mister Chesterton." 

The Doctor tapped her back. "They are saying I'm a charlatan. What concrete evidence would satisfy you?" he asked as she stood on the other side of the console from where he had been. 

"Just open the doors, Doctor Foreman," Mr. Chesterton ordered. 

"Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about?" he muttered. 

Ms. Wright turned to her colleague. "They're so sure, Ian." 

He turned to her briefly. "Yes, I know," he confirmed, prepared to argue that they were insane. 

"And remember the difference between the outside of the police box and the inside," Ms. Wright stopped his argument. 

"Yes, I know, but. Are you going to open the doors or aren't you?" 

"No," the Doctor answered simply. 

"You see?" Mr. Chesterton told Ms. Wright. 

"Not until I'm quite sure it's safe to do so. Well, yes, good. Yes, it is, it's good. Excellent, excellent. You've got the radiation counter there. What's it read?" 

"It's reading normal, Grandfather," Susan reported. 

"Splendid, splendid. Well, I think I'll take my Geiger counter with me in any case. So, you still challenge me, young man?" He walked along the console. 

Mr. Chesterton walked along the console in the opposite direction, facing the Doctor in challenge. "Well, just open the doors and prove your point," he stated mockingly. Even if the hadn't moved, if the Doctor opened the doors, he and Barbara could make a run for it. 

"You're so narrow-minded, aren't you? Don't be so insular." 

"Grandfather, do you know where we are?" Susan called. 

"Yes, we've gone back in time, all right. One or two samples and I shall be able to make an estimate. With rock pieces and a few plants. But I do wish this wouldn't keep letting me down. However, we can go out now.

"Just a minute. You say we've gone back in time?" Mr. Chesterton demanded. 

"Yes, quite so," the Doctor confirmed. 

"So that when we go out of that door, we won't be in a junkyard in London in England in the year 1963?" he asked. 

"That is quite correct. But your tone suggests ridicule," the Doctor challenged. 

"But it is ridiculous. Time doesn't go round and round in circles. You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future." 

"Really? Where does time go, then?" 

"It doesn't go anywhere. It just happens and then it's finished." 

The Doctor turned to Ms. Wright. "You're not as doubtful as your friend, I hope?" 

"No," Ms. Wright confirmed. 

"Barbara, you can't." 

Mr. Chesterton was cut off by Ms. Wright. "I can't help it. I just believe them, that's all." 

"Mr. Chesterton, time doesn't finish. It goes on forever. It isn't a circle either. It's more like a ball of twine. Or the brain," Scarlett proposed. "If you go back in time and kill your mum, albeit accidentally I hope, before she has you, what do you think happens?" she asked. 

Mr. Chesterton rolled his eyes. 

"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" the Doctor asked. 

"Yes," Mr. Chesterton agreed eager to prove him wrong. 

The Doctor flipped the switch that opened the door. He held out his hand. "Now, see for yourself." 

"It's not true. It can't be." Mr. Chesterton was clearly in awe. 

Susan turned to him. "That's not on the screen," she stated, slightly smug. 

"Well, I've no more time to argue with you. I must get some samples, Susan," the Doctor said. 

Scarlett rushed to stand beside him. "I'll go with you," she offered. 

The Doctor looked at her for a moment before nodding. 

"Be careful, Grandfather, Scarlett," Susan bid. 

Leaving the TARDIS, the Doctor muttered, "Oh, dear, it's disgusting really," about his instruments. 

Just after leaving, Scarlett took her key from the locket where it was never taken from. 

When they were far out, the Doctor turned back to see what the TARDIS looked like and saw it didn't change. "It's still a police box. Why hasn't it changed? Dear, dear, how very disturbing." 

"My mom said you told her there was some kind of faulty." 

"Who is your mum?" the Doctor asked. 

"Just someone who will travel with you. From your point of view, it will happen in about 900 years. From my point of view, it happened about 40 years ago. Time travel, you can never keep it straight in your head," she commented. 

The Doctor started collecting his rock samples. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by the primitive man. The Doctor pulled out his matches, trying to light his pipe. The match wouldn't light though, and it kept breaking. "Damn," he muttered. 

"Here," Scarlett offered. She took the box from him and pulled out a match. Closing the box, she drug the red tip across the sandpaper quickly, holding it above his pipe. The Doctor had only let out a puff of smoke when the primitive man attacked. The Doctor cried out as the man hit his head and Scarlett screamed as she was knocked over the head as well, the match fell from her hand and she went limp.

*****

Kal brought in the 2 creatures he found. The old man was over his shoulder and the girl was being dragged behind him by her wrist which was in his hand. Kal set the man across a large rock. He put the strange blonde so she sat against the rock. 

Za walked over to the strangers. "These are strange creatures," he commented. 

"Is Za, son of the firemaker, afraid of an old man and a young girl? When will Za make fire come from his hands?" Kal asked. 

"When Orb decides it." 

"Orb is for strong men. Orb has sent me the creatures to make fire come from his fingers. I have seen it. Inside, they're full of fire. Fire comes from her fingers. The smoke comes from his mouth."

"As lies come out of yours." Za lowered himself to look at them. "They wear strange skins." 

"Za is afraid. There was a strange tree. The creatures was in it. Za would have run away had he seen it." 

"Silence!" Za bellowed. 

Kal walked around the cave. "When I saw fire come from her fingers I remembered Za, son of the firemaker. And when the cold comes, you will all die if you wait for Za to make fire for you. I, Kal, am a true leader. We fought like the tiger and the bear. My strength was too much for them. They lay down to sleep. And I, Kal, carried them here to make fire for you." 

"Why do you listen to Kal?" Za asked. 

*****

Scarlett felt strange as she came to. Like a limb was waking up. "Mmm," she mumbled, moving her head. 

"Where's my... where," the Doctor muttered. 

Scarlett forced her eyes open. 

All the cave people backed away as they saw gold in them. 

"Ah, hello," Scarlett greeted, unaware of why they were afraid. 

"Do you want fire, or do you want to die in the cold?" a big man asked his group. 

"Fire! Fire!" everyone chanted. 

"Doctor!" Scarlett called, reaching up for him. "Doctor!" 

"When it's cold, the tiger comes to our caves again at night. Za will give you to the tiger. Za will give you to the cold. Za rubs his hands and waits for Orb to remember him. My creature can make fire come from his fingers. I have seen it. But I, Kal, brought him here. The creature is mine," the man apparently called Kal said. 

"He's just an old man in strange skins and she is just a child in strange skins. Kal has been with us too long. It is time he died," the one named Za declared. 

A man approached. "I say there is truth in both of you. Za speaks truth, but fire cannot live in men. And Kal speaks the truth that we die without fire." 

A female leaned over to Doctor. "Will my father listen to a woman? If this old man can make fire come from his fingers, let us see it now." 

"I say what is to be done here, not old men and women," Za started. 

"Za tries to talk like his father, the firemaker. Za does not want to see fire made. But I, Kal, am not afraid of fire. I will make my creature make fire," Kal stated. 

The Doctor sat up and Scarlett stood to keep him steady. 

"I will take him to the Cave of Skulls and he will tell me the secret!" Za exclaimed. 

The Doctor stood. "I can make fire for you. Let me go and I'll make all the fire you want." He walked toward a group of cave-people. "You don't have to be afraid of me. I'm an old man. How can an old man like me harm any of you?" he asked. 

"What does he say?" Za asked. 

"Fire? He says he can make fire for us," the woman's father translated. 

Kal grunted. "He makes it for me and I give you fire. I am firemaker." 

"He will make it for me," Za declared threateningly. 

The Doctor started searching his pockets. "My matches. Where are they?" He turned to Scarlett. "Where are the matches?'

Scarlett's eyes wandered the room as she thought. "When he hit me, I dropped them," she said, looking guilty. 

"I must get back. Must get back to the ship," he muttered.

"Kal's creatures, he makes fire only for Kal," Kal decided. 

The Doctor turned around to face them. "Take us back to my ship and I will make fire for you. All the fire you want." 

"This is more of your lies. They cannot make fire," Za decided. 

"No, we can. We just need leaves and sticks," Scarlett told them. 

"There was a tree and the creature came from in it. And the fire, it came out of his fingers," Kal said. 

Scarlett pointed at him. "The tree, it has the fire." 

"You want to be strong like Za, son of the great firemaker. You all heard him say that there would be fire. There is no fire. Za does not tell you lies. He does not say, I will do this thing, and then not do it. He does not say, I will make you warm, and then leave you to the dark. He does not say, I will fight away the tiger with fire, and then let him come to you in the dark. Do you want a liar for your chief?" he asked. 

"No!" everyone yelled. 

Kal walked over to them, grabbing Scarlett's arms. "Make fire. Make fire," he ordered. 

"I need dry leaves and twigs and sticks to make fire," she tried to tell him. 

"You are trapped in your own lies, Kal," the woman said. 

"Great chief who is afraid of nothing. Oh great Kal, save us from the cold. Save us from the tiger.

Kal grabbed her hands. "Make fire. Make fire come from your fingers as I saw you," he ordered. 

"We have no matches. We cannot make fire. We _cannot_ make fire!" the Doctor told him. 

Za decided, "The girl can be taught our ways. Let the old man die. And we'll watch the great Kal as he kills his strong enemy."

Kal turned Scarlett around, holding a dagger to her neck. "Make fire! Make fire! Or I kill you now!" 

"Well, then," Scarlett said. She held up her hands and snapped. 

He flinched.

Scarlett twisted and kneed him in the crotch, kicking him back. She ran to another group and kicked Za, using him to do a back flip. She held up her fists. 

"Grandfather!" Susan exclaimed. She screamed and jumped on Kal's back. 

Scarlett was startled and Za came at her, holding her hands behind her back. "What am I? Chopped liver?" she asked. 

Barbara ran in, but was quickly grabbed. Ian was dragged off Za and was threatened by a stone axe. 

"If he dies, there will be no fire," the Doctor exclaimed. 

Kal threw Ian to the side and stared, fascinated by Barbara. 

"Kill her. Kill her," the old woman ordered. 

Kal was about to obey when Za yelled. 

"Wait. You cannot kill all our enemies. When Orb gives fire back to the sky, let him look down on them. Then that is when they die, and Orb will give us fire again. Take them to the Cave of Skulls!" he ordered. 

"No! Grandfather!" Susan yelled. 

"All right," the Doctor murmured. 

Hur went to Za, and her father tried to pull her back. 

*****

"So, the Cave of Skulls. I wonder why it's named that!" Scarlett said sarcastically. With her bound hands, she gestured to the large number of skeletons scattered around. 

The all were bound hand and foot. 

"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" Mr. Chesterton asked. 

"No. Ian, I'm frightened," Ms. Wright told him, laying on the ground. 

"Try and hang on," he advised her. 

"But how are we going to get out of this?" she asked. 

"Whatever you do, don't you two start making out," Scarlett said. 

Mr. Chesterton and Ms. Wright laughed. 

"We should use our cunning. I hope you can get yourself free, Chesterton. I can't. The stench in here. The stench. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I'm desperately sorry," the Doctor said. 

"It isn't your fault. If only I hadn't dropped the matches," Scarlett muttered. 

"Don't blame yourself," Susan said. 

"Look at that. Look at it." The Doctor gestured to the skulls. 

"They're all the same. They've been split open."

"Suicide? Murder?" Scarlett asked. 


	3. The Forest Of Fear

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I'm desperately sorry," the Doctor said. 

"It isn't your fault. If only I hadn't dropped the matches," Scarlett muttered. 

"Don't blame yourself," Susan said. 

"Look at that. Look at it." The Doctor gestured to the skulls. 

"They're all the same. They've been split open."

"Suicide? Murder?" Scarlett asked. 

*****

"I've found another piece with a rough edge," Susan said, giving Mr. Chesterton a piece of flint. 

"Thank you," Mr. Chesterton said. He started sawing at Barbara's bindings with pieces of flint. It broke under the pressure. "It's no good, it keeps crumbling." 

"Oh, it's hopeless, hopeless. Even if we do get free, we shall never move that stone." The Doctor nodded to the 'door'. 

"There's air coming in here from somewhere," Mr. Chesterton proposed. 

"Yes, there is. I can feel it on my face," Ms. Wright confirmed. 

"It may only be a small opening. Don't count on it." 

"Well you obviously are," the Doctor declared. 

"Of course I am. Any hope is better than none. Don't just lie there criticising us. Do something. Help us all to get out of here. Oh, this stone's no good." 

Scarlett turned to him. "You just said 'don't count on it', but you want to have hope? God, that's redundant." 

Ms. Wright turned to Mr. Chesterton then her human pupil. "Well, don't give up, Ian. Please. And Scarlett, you've been full of brilliant ideas in the past. I'm sure you can come up with one again!" Mr. Wright said. 

Scarlet coughed, sighing afterward. "I don't have my medication, Ms. Wright. I'm going to start being exhausted all the time again. Please don't talk about having hope and me having a 'brilliant idea'." Though her hands were bound, Scarlett rubbed her face. Slowly standing, she hopped over behind some rocks. 

"Scarlett!" Susan called. 

"Wait," Barbara ordered. "It's normally when she thinks she's given up that brilliance strikes." 

There was a low 'thunk' behind the rocks where Scarlett was. 

"Scarlett?" Susan called again, worried. 

Scarlett walked back around the rocks. Yes, walked. She was holding a skull. "Cavemen teeth are notorious for being sharp." She used the skulls teeth to saw against the ropes against her arms. As they snapped, she spread her arms, catching the skull before it hit the ground. 

"Mr. Chesterton, I suggest you grab another skull." She squatted in front of Susan, smiling brilliantly. 

Before anyone could snap anything else, Scarlett heard something. "Guys, someone's coming." She threw the skull, siting on her knees with her legs hidden and her wrists tucked into her jacket. 

The old woman broke through some bushes into the cave of skulls.

Susan screamed.

"You will not make fire," the woman said murderously. 

*****

"I will set you free if you will go away and not make fire. Fire will bring trouble and death to the tribe," the woman said. 

"There will be no fire," the Doctor confirmed.

The old woman used the knife to free the travelers. When she made it to Scarlett, the blonde held up her hands, grinning mischievously. "Hurry, hurry. You must go across the tuft and into the trees," she told them. 

"Yes," Mr. Chesterton confirmed. 

*****

Barbara led the way, with Susan, Ian, the Doctor, then Scarlett trying to keep up. 

"Stop. Just a minute, let me get my-" the Doctor tried. 

"We can't stop here," Mr. Chesterton pled. 

The Doctor leaned on Susan and Scarlett. "Just a moment." 

"Look, we've got to go further on." 

"I know. I know that. But I must get. Breathe. I must breathe." 

Scarlett was panting too. "Look, we all need the break. If we can breathe, we can run faster still." 

"I shall have to carry you," Ian decided. 

Scarlett laughed. 

"There's no need for that. Don't be so childish. I'm not senile. Just let me get my breath for a moment," the Doctor stated. 

"Oh, Grandfather, come on," Susan ushered. 

"Yes. I'm not so young, you know," the Doctor told her. 

"I know," Susan murmured, helping him get moving. 

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Ms. Wright asked. 

Mr. Chesterton nodded. "Yes, I think so." 

Ms. Wright frowned. "I can't remember. I simply can't remember." She shook her head. 

"We're free, Barbara. Think about that. Free," Mr. Chesterton decided to focus on the positive. 

Ms. Wright nodded. "Yes. Yes." 

But the sounds of nocturnal hunters and prey alarmed the group.

*****

As they kept running, Susan was helping the Doctor. "I'm sure I remember this place. But we didn't come round it, we went across it." 

"Yes, there was a sort of trail," Ms. Wright agreed. 

"Now we're making progress!" Scarlett exclaimed. 

"If that's true, we must be quite near the ship." Mr. Chesterton turned to the Doctor. "How are you feeling?" he asked. 

"I'm all right. Don't keep on looking upon me as the weakest link of the party." 

Scarlett raised her hand. "That's me!" she exclaimed. 

The group laughed. 

Ms. Wright saw something and gasped in fear. 

Mr. Chesterton turned to her. "What's the matter?" he asked. 

"I don't know. I saw something. Over there in the bushes," she told him. 

"What nonsense," the Doctor declared.

"The bushes moved. I saw them. I saw them! Oh, we're never going to get out of this awful place! Never! Never! Never!" Ms. Wright freaked out. 

"No, tell me how you really feel," the American insisted. 

"Barbara," Mr. Chesterton called, attempting to calm her. 

"What do you think it could have been, Grandfather?" Susan asked. 

"Oh, sheer nonsense, child. Imagination," he replied. 

"The mind plays tricks out of fear and uses the imagination," Scarlett confirmed. 

"We'll die in this place," Barbara insisted. 

Scarlett rolled her eyes. 

"Barbara, no we won't. We're going to get back to the ship and then we'll be safe," he tried to reassure her. 

"Oh, Ian, what's happening to us?" Ms. Wright cried. 

"Look, Barbara, we got out of the cave, didn't we?" 

"I'm so cold," Susan whined. 

"And I'm hot with all this exertion," the Doctor added. 

"We'll rest for a couple of minutes," Mr. Chesterton allowed. 

"Oh, good. Is there any chance of them following us?" Susan asked. 

Scarlett lowered herself to sit on a fallen tree. 

"Scarlett, your face is scarlet," Barbara exclaimed. 

"I would expect so. I need my medication, and soon," Scarlett exclaimed. "Why do you think Scarlett is my name when I'm a blonde?" she asked, smiling. 

"I expect so," the Doctor confirmed his granddaughter's question. 

"I don't want to stop here too long," Mr. Chesterton declared. 

"Do you think I want to?" the Doctor sassed him. 

"No. We'll change the order. You and Susan go in front, Barbara, Scarlett, and I'll bring up the rear. Susan seems to remember the way better than any of us; and Scarlett, we saw her fight those Cavemen like it was nothing." 

"You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little party."

"There isn't time to vote on it."

"Sure there is!" Scarlett exclaimed. 

"Just so long as you understand I won't follow your orders blindly," the Doctor declared. 

"I'll be leader." Scarlett smiled. 

"If there were only two of us, you could find your own way back to the ship," Mr. Chesterton declared. 

"It's his ship! Good luck driving it!" the American laughed. 

"Aren't you a tiresome young man!" the Doctor declared. 

"And you're a stubborn old man. But you will lead, the girls in between, and I'll bring up the rear. Because that's the safest way.

"I'll be in the back with you because I'm prepared to kick some ass." 

"You're so American. Very well." Ian nodded. "Barbara was probably right. I thought we heard something when we stopped back there." 

"Oh, sheer imagination," the Doctor called b.s. 

"Why are you so confident about it?" Mr. Chesterton demanded. 

"I won't allow myself to be frightened out of my wits by mere shadows, that's all."

"All right." They all sat on the tree.

*****

"I think we'd better get going. Doctor, will you lead?" 

"Yes, yes, yes, yes." 

"Come on, Barbara." 

But almost immediately, she falls and lands with her face close to a dead boar. She screamed and started sobbing. 

"Barbara, Barbara," Ian tried to calm her. 

"A dead animal," Susan noted, running her hands over its snout. 

"It must have just been killed. By a larger animal, too," the Doctor said over Barbara's crying. 

"Shush. Shush." They heard a noise and looked to the woods. "That must be them. They followed us. Quick, quick. Over there." Mr. Chesterton pulled Ms. Wright and Scarlett to hide. "Keep down, and not a sound." 

The man stated, "Wait. There is danger. I will go." Za was attacked by whatever killed the boar. He screamed. 

"Quick, now's our chance. Let's get away. Run!" Mr. Chesterton demanded. 

"Look at them. We can't just leave them! I don't care what they've done," Barbara insisted. 

"Barbara. Barbara, come on." 

"I think he's dead. There isn't any danger.

"At the very least, he's injured. We can't leave him to die!" Scarlett insisted. She left their hiding spot and approached the man. The woman was crying over him, hiding him, protecting him. "Dear, I want to help him," Scarlett tried. 

Za moaned. 

"No, keep away," the woman ordered. 

"Dear, we are friends." 

"You understand? Friend. I want to help him," Ian tried. 

"Friend?" the woman reiterated. 

Scarlett nodded. "We need water," she told the woman. 

"Water."

Scarlett nodded. "We need water for his wounds." 

The woman turned, pointing. "Water is there." 

"Please, show me. Give me your handkerchief," Barbara ordered Ian. 

Mr. Chesterton reached in his pocket. "Here you are." He handed her the cloth. 

"Ian, go with," Scarlett ordered, examining him. 

Ian nodded, going. 

"Is he all right?" Susan asked. 

Scarlett nodded. "I believe so. He killed the animal." 

Barbara handed her the handkerchief. 

"Thank you," she said. 

Scarlett squeezed the handkerchief a water came out, washing away most of the blood. 

"Water comes from the skin!" the woman exclaimed. 

Scarlett smiled. "Yes." She pointed to the blood. "Animal's blood," she told the woman. 

The woman moved up and down. "Not Za's!" 

"No," she agreed. 

"Really?" Susan asked. 

"Yeah, it's mostly the animals, but there is a cut on his head." She put the handkerchief on his cut and sat back. "He should be fine." 

"How did you know to do that?" Barbara asked. 

"My dad's a nurse." 

"Well, we've lost our chance of getting away. Your flat must be littered with stray cats and dogs," Mr. Chesterton said to Ms. Wright. 

"These are human beings, Ian," Ms. Wright said. 

"Yes, I know."

"I hope you're not too opposed to me calling you Ian," Scarlett said. 

"No." 

"So I can keep calling you that?" 

"If you like." 

"And you can call me Barbara," Ms. Wright proposed. 

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" the Doctor asked. 

"Have you got any antiseptic in the ship?" Ian asked. 

"Yes, lots," Susan answered. 

"He doesn't need an antiseptic. Cavepeople's immune system are way stronger than ours when it comes to this stuff. It's how they can walk around with no shoes on," Scarlett told them. 

"One minute ago we were trying desperately to get away from these savages," the Doctor exclaimed. 

"Yes, well, now one of them is injured so we're helping," Scarlett said. 

"You're a Doctor. Do something," Ian insisted. 

"I'm not a doctor of medicine," the Doctor stated. 

"Grandfather, we can make friends with them," Susan proposed. 

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, child," the Doctor waved off the idea. 

"Why? You treat everybody and everything as something less important than yourself," Barbara said. 

"Stop!" Scarlett yelled. "We can't make friends with them because these are not the norm. This is a woman and her lover is injured. That's the only reason she's trusting us. She has no choice. And, dear, Barbara, if he's acting inhuman, that's because he is inhuman. He's an alien so stop trying to make everything black and white!" 

"Haven't you realised if these two people can follow us, any of these people can follow us? The whole tribe might descend upon us at any moment," the Doctor stated. 

"The tribe is asleep," the woman stated. 

"You weren't," Scarlett said. 

"And what about the old woman who cut our bonds? You understand?" the Doctor added. 

"He's right. We're too exposed here. We'll make a stretcher and carry him," Ian decided. 

"You're not going to take him back to the ship?" the Doctor asked. 

"Take your coat off, Barbara, Scarlett. Susan, try and find me two poles. Long ones, fairly straight." 

"Tell me you're joking!" Scarlett exclaimed. Despite her disbelief, Susan and Barbara obeyed so Scarlett took off her trench coat. "This is my favorite jacket. If it gets torn, I'll skin you," she said, completely serious. 

"The old woman won't give us away. She helped," Barbara stated. 

"Do you think so? These people have logic and reason, have they? Can't you see their minds change as rapidly as night and day? She's probably telling the whole tribe at this very moment," the Doctor declared. 

*****

"It's not going to work like this. What can we do?" Ian asked. 

Susan tried to put her jacket under Za's head. 

The woman freaked out, pushing him away. "No! He's mine," she exclaimed. 

"I was only trying to help," Susan exclaimed. 

Scarlett helped Susan stand. "She's territorial, dear." 

"She doesn't understand, Susan. She's jealous of you," Ian declared. 

"I don't understand what you are doing. You are like a mother with a child. Why do you not kill?" the woman asked. 

"How can we explain to her? She doesn't understand kindness, friendship." 

Barbara leaned toward her. "We will make him well again. We will teach you how to make fire. In return, you show us the way back to our cave." 

"Listen to them. They do not kill," the man muttered. 

Ian got them back to their experiment. "Come on. Let's get on with this stretcher. Let's try the sleeves inside. That's it," he declared. 

Scarlett walked over to the Doctor. "If we don't kill, won't that make us weak in their eyes?"

The Doctor looked at her in realization. 

"How about giving us a hand, Doctor? Scarlett?" Ian called. 

They glanced at him, going back to it. 

"Your mum meets me in my future and tells you stories about future me?" the Doctor asked. 

"My adoptive mom, but yeah." 

"And I look nine?" 

Scarlett giggled. "I don't think so. That's what mom says but she's dramatic." 

The Doctor glanced to the side and picked up a rock. 

Ian grabbed his arm. 

"Get your hand off me," the Doctor ordered. 

"What are you doing?" Ian asked. 

"Well, I-I was going to get him to draw our way back to the TARDIS." 

Ian turned to Barbara and Susan. "We've been too long as it is. Is the stretcher ready?" he asked. 

"Yes," Barbara confirmed. 

"Right, you take one end of it," Ian told the Doctor. 

"You don't expect me to carry him, do you?" the Doctor asked. 

"I'll do it for you," Scarlett joked. 

"Oh, very well," he agreed before his pride was injured. 

They all rolled over the groaning man and put the stretcher beneath him. 

"Good. Right, now, Scarlett, you get in front with Barbara," Ian ordered. "Susan, you lead the way." 

The two high school girls went in the front. Susan stood in the front and Barbara and Scarlett picked up the poles, carrying them behind them. 

*****

"Hold the branches back, Susan," Ian ordered. 

"The TARDIS! There's the TARDIS!" Susan exclaimed. 

But there were cavemen all around them. 

"Back! Back! Go back," Ian ordered. 

But Kal blocked their retreat. 


	4. The Firemaker

But there were cavemen all around them. 

"Back! Back! Go back," Ian ordered. 

But Kal blocked their retreat. 

*****

The stretcher was put down and the travellers dragged away. 

"Za and the woman went with them. I, Kal, stop them," Kal said with flourish.

"They saved Za from death near the stream," the woman defended

"They set them free from the Cave of Skulls and went with them," Kal argued. 

"The old woman cut them free," the woman defended her man. 

"Za is so weak a woman speaks for him," Kal grunted. 

"It was the old woman. She showed them a new way out of the Cave of Skulls," the woman insisted. 

"The old woman does not speak. She does not say she did this or did that. The old woman is dead. Za killed the old woman.' 

"No!" 

"Za killed the old woman with his knife."

"No."

Kal grabbed Za's knife. "Here. Here is the knife he killed her with." 

The Doctor stood beside Kal. "This knife has no blood on it. I said, this knife has no blood on it." 

Kal grunted. "It is a bad knife." Kal dropped the knife. "It does not show the things it does." 

The Doctor picked it up. "It is a finer knife than yours." 

"I, Kal, say it is a bad knife." 

"This knife can cut and stab. I have never seen a better knife." 

"I will show you one." Kal pulled out _his_ knife which was covered in blood. 

"This knife shows what it has done. There is blood on it." The Doctor took the knife and showed it to everyone. He turned to Za, showing him the knife. "Who killed the old woman?" he asked. 

"I did not kill her," Za - who had sat up - stated. 

The Doctor turned back to Kal. " _You_ killed the old woman." 

"Yes! She set them free. She set them free. She did this. I, Kal, killed her," Kal admitted. 

"Is this your strong leader? One who kills your old women? He is a bad leader. He will kill you all. Yes, all." The Doctor whispered to Ian, "Follow my example." He picked up some stones and threw them at Kal. "Drive him out. Out." 

Ian grabbed a stone too. "Yes, drive him out. He killed the old woman." 

The tribe started pelting him with stones. He went to charge, but they pushed him. "Drive him out," the tribe chanted. Kal left, and Za was on his feet again. 

Ian turned to Za. "Remember, Kal is not stronger than the whole tribe." 

"Kal is no longer one of this tribe. We will watch for him. We will all fight Kal if he comes back. We will watch for him. Take them to the Cave of Skulls," Za ordered. 

Scarlett winced. "What?" she exclaimed. They grabbed her and pulled her back. She just had to get a single arm free and she could put them through hell. 

"Take us back to the desert and we will make fire for you," Ian said. 

"The great stone will close one place, and you will stand by another I will show you. Take them," Za ordered. 

"Don't struggle," the Doctor advised. 

*****

They were trapped inside the cave, but at least they weren't tied up this time. 

They all walked and Susan nearly fell. Feeling defeated, she started sobbing. 

"This place is evil," the Doctor commented. 

Scarlett sat against a rock, panting. 

"Scarlett?" Barbara called. 

Scarlett shook her head. "I can't. ... I'm.... My illness. I just can't." 

"We need to make fire, but I don't know how to do it the old fashioned way," Ian said. 

"I do." Scarlett made herself move to them. "We need dead grass and leaves and 2 sticks. Let's make 2 piles so two of us can do it at the same time. "Since this is what everyone needs to know to survive. Well, now, they do. Obviously not... in our... time." She shook her head in confusion. She found flint stone and pulled off her stainless steel infinity earrings. She got them from her mom and knew something was wrong as they weren't sold anywhere in her time. 

"Is this right?" Susan asked. 

"Yes." Scarlett grabbed the dead grass and twigs and made a pile. She took the two sticks and put on the ground. Taking Ian's hands, she put them on either side of the stick and made his rub it so it was twisting. Then, she made him stop. "Should we? Maybe we should wait for a bargain."

"No, we need to make the fire so we can leave as soon as possible," Ian argued. 

She put some stones on the ground by them. "Just keep doing that. Thank God for Girl Scouts," she muttered. Going back to her own pile and dragged her flint across her necklace. A few sparks flew out and Scarlett got down, blowing on it gently. 

"I can smell something," Susan said. 

"Yes, so can I," Barbara added. 

"It's burning! It's burning!" Susan exclaimed. 

"Yep," Scarlett said. She turned to look at Ian's. "Oh, you didn't think his was burning?" She crawled over there. "You picked up the stick?" she asked. 

"That's how they do it in the movies," Ian defended himself. 

Scarlett shook her head. "Does this look like a movie?" she asked. She put the stick down, making him hold it the way he was originally. 

"Mine's a long way off yet," Ian stated. 

"Yep," Scarlett confirmed. "Faster." She watched as there was no change. "Ian, faster." 

"Oh." And he sped up. 

ZA: What is this?

"We are making fire," the Doctor told him. 

Za approached Ian. "You are called Friend?" he asked. 

"Yes," Ian confirmed. 

"Don't stop," Scarlett ordered. 

"Hur said you were called Friend. I am called Za. You are the leader of your tribe?" Za asked. 

"No. He is our leader." Ian nodded at the Doctor. 

"Are you going to set us free?" Susan asked. 

"The tribe say you are from Orb and when you are returned to him on the stone of death, we will have fire again," Za ignored her question. 

"But that's not true," Barbara argued. 

"I think you are from the other side of the mountains. If you show me how to make fire, I will take you back to the foot of the mountains. If you do not show me, I cannot stop you dying on the old stone." 

"Put some more leaves and grass round it. I think it's beginning to work," Ian said. 

"Do you understand? We are making fire for you," the Doctor told the caveman. 

"I am watching," Za said. 

"The whole tribe should be watching. Everyone should know how to make fire," Ian said. 

"Everyone cannot be leader." 

"No, that's perfectly true. But in our tribe, the firemaker is the least important man." 

"Ha! I do not believe this." 

"He is the least important because we can all make fire." 

"You lie," Za said. 

"No," Scarlett argued. "I made that." She pointed at her fire. 

"He make that too." 

Scarlett shook her head. "No. I did. There are many ways to make fire. How can he be leader," she pointed to the Doctor, "if you see him," she pointed to Ian, "making fire." 

"Look, I think it's beginning to work. Susan, Barbara, blow gently. That's it!" Ian ordered. 

"We've done it," Susan laughed.

"Yes."

"Fire. Fire," Za chanted. 

*****

Kal came in and started a fight with Za. Za won. 

*****

"Ian, get that branch. Light it. That's proof for his tribe," Scarlett ordered. 

Ian lit the gestured to branch from the fire. "Take this, and show it to your tribe." 

"You, stay here," Za ordered. 

"We will come with you," Ian argued. 

"No, you'll stay here."

"I will come with you." 

"Give him a chance," said the Doctor. "Give him a chance. Let him show the tribe fire, establish himself as leader, then he'll let us go." 

"But we ought to go with him now." 

*****

"It didn't work. They're going to keep us here," Ian said. 

Scarlett was laying on the ground, breathing heavily. 

The woman came in with some food. 

"Why are you keeping us here?" he demanded. 

"Za has gone into the forest to find meat." She stood, walking over to Scarlett. "There will be more food later," she said. 

"But why can't we go outside?" Barbara asked. 

"What wrong with her?" 

"She's sick!" 

"Please let us go. It's terrible in here," Susan complained. 

"Za is leader," she said. 

"But we helped you. We gave you fire." 

"We have fire now." The woman left. 

"Yes. And I was the fool who gave it to you. Why didn't I wait?" the American muttered. 

"You were told not to," the Doctor told her. 

"I'm sorry," Ian said. 

Barbara walked over to her. "Well at least we're alive. We wouldn't be if we hadn't given them fire." Barbara put her hand on Scarlett's forehead out of instinct. "You're burning up!" she exclaimed. 

"It'll go away," Scarlett murmured. "Please don't move your hand."

*****

Ian was sleeping beside Scarlett. Her body temp warmed him more than the fire ever would. 

Barbara shook Ian gently. "Ian," she whispered, trying not to wake Scarlett. 

"They brought us some meat," Susan said. 

"And the Doctor found a stone with a hole in it, and they filled it with water." 

"All the comforts of home," he muttered sarcastically. 

Za walked in. "The animal was hard to kill. The meat on it is good. They have brought you fruit and water has been put into a stone. Is this the stone? Hur tells me the girl is sick."

"She'll be fine. She just gets sick easily. But she's strong. She'll come through," Barbara said. 

"Has anyone hurt you?" he asked. 

"When are you going to let us go, hmm?" the Doctor asked. 

"You will stay here. I have the meat and I have the stick, and a piece of skin. I can make fire now. Your tribe and my tribe will join together.

"We don't want to stay here," Ian tried to 

"Why? There is no better place the other side of the mountains." He glanced at Scarlett. "In my tribe, the weak are killed." 

"Don't you dare," the Doctor ordered.

"Do not try to leave here." Za left with their water. 

"What do we do?" Susan cried. 

"Quench the fire. Take the fire away from them. Scare them, somehow."

Susan put a skull on a burning stick. "Hey, Grandfather, look! It's almost alive."

Scarlett opened her eyes. "Not alive, Susan. Almost dead." She sat up. " I know what to do. We'll make five torches. We'll find the sticks. And we'll use the fat from the meat. And then-"

"And then?" 

Scarlett looked up, her eyes mischievous. "And then, to all intents and purposes, we're going to die." 

As they looked around, Scarlett found a strange stone and blew in it to clean it out. The noise echoed around the room. "Hey, look! I could speak French into this and have it echo around the room! New languages are always scary, especially to primitives."

"Yes," Ian agreed. They all went into their hiding spots. "When I give the sign," Ian whispered. 

When the woman entered with more meat, she saw the lit skulls and screamed. The rest of the tribe came in and cowered too. 

When the woman screamed, Scarlett used the stone to echo her voice. "Je suis faché! Vous avez tort emprisonné! Le feu vous fera périr!" Then, she made a badass roar. 

Susan went to speak, but they shushed her. 

Scarlet kept repeating the saying over and over again until the group took off. She recited it once more before following. 

*****

The group made it to the TARDIS without a single break, but Barbara did fall once. 

"Come on, Doctor, get us off! Get us off!" Ian ordered. 

"Yes," the Doctor agreed. 

The TARDIS took off as the spears flew towards it. 

"Yes, it's matching up," the Doctor reported. 

"We're beginning to land," Susan stated. 

"Oh, how I wish."

Susan turned to Scarlett. "What did you say?" she asked. 

"Oh, you know. 'I am angry. You wrongly imprisoned. The fire will destroy you'." She made a mocking growl before dissolving into a fit of laughter with Susan. 

They others chuckled a bit at how she was always so cheery when they were about to die. 

"Have you taken us back to our own time?" Ian asked. 

"You know I can't do that. Please be reasonable," the Doctor said. 

"What?" 

"Please, you must take us back. You must," Barbara insisted. 

"You see, this isn't operating properly. Or rather, the code is still a secret. When you put the right data, precise information to a second of the beginning of a journey, then we can fix a destination, but I had no data at my disposal." 

"Are you saying that you don't know how to work this thing?" 

"Well of course I can't. I'm not a miracle worker." The Doctor walked around the console. 

"You can't blame Grandfather. We left the other place too quickly, that's all," Susan defended her family. 

"Just a minute. Did you try and take us back to our own time?" Ian asked.

"Well, I got you away from that other time, didn't I?" 

"That isn't what I asked you." 

"Does it matter?" Scarlett asked. 

"It's the only way I can answer you, young man. Now. Now we shall see," the Doctor said. 

The monitor only showed strange trees. 

"It could be anywhere. Dear, dear, dear, dear. It's no help to us at all. Well, I suggest before we go outside and explore, let us clean ourselves up." 

"Oh, yes," Susan agreed. 

"Now what does the radiation read, Susan?" 

"It's reading normal, Grandfather. Come on, Scarlett, I've been wanting to show you the ship since I met you. I even designed a room for you. It's right next to mine." Susan commenced dragging Scarlett through a hall. 

But after everyone walked away, the needle went up into the Danger Zone. 


	5. The Dead Planet

Well, I suggest before we go outside and explore, let us clean ourselves up." 

"Oh, yes," Susan agreed. 

"Now what does the radiation read, Susan?" 

"It's reading normal, Grandfather. Come on, Scarlett, I've been wanting to show you the ship since I met you. I even designed a room for you. It's right next to mine." Susan commenced dragging Scarlett through a hall. 

But after everyone walked away, the needle went up into the Danger Zone. 

* * *

When they left the TARDIS, everyone looked presentable again, but no one had changed. Only, Scarlett had put on [gloves](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/9/93/YEP%21.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119023039). 

"There's been a forest fire," Barbara noted. "Everything's sort of white and ashen." 

"Funny mist," Ian commented. 

"The heat must have been indescribable. Look at this soil here. Look at it." He bent down, scooping a great deal into his hand. "It's all turn to sand and ashes. Extraordinary. How can shrubs or trees grow in soil like that, hmm?" 

"Something else that's strange. There's quite a breeze blowing," Ian added. 

"Well?" Susan asked. 

"Well, look at the branches and things." 

"They aren't moving," Scarlett declared. 

"They're absolutely still," Barbara commented. 

Scarlett frowned. She reached out a [gloved](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/9/93/YEP%21.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119023039) hand to press up against the branches. It broke off, falling into her hand. She moved it to show Ian. 

Ian poked at it. "Huh. Like stone, look. Very brittle stone. It crumbles when you touch it. Look." He handed it to the Doctor who broke pieces off and handed them out. 

"It's petrified. How fascinating, a petrified jungle. Hm. Extraordinary. Yes, I must really investigate that. Couldn't have been heat, then, and age would merely decay," he informed them. 

"What could have caused it, Grandfather?" Susan asked. 

"I don't know," he answered. "I don't know, but I intend to find out." He walked ahead. 

"Well, I'm coming too," Susan decided, following. 

Scarlett tilted her head, shrugging. She followed. "Three's company!" she called up head. 

As the Doctor took notes, Susan made a discovery. She was on her knees and at the base of a tree. "Oh Grandfather, look! It's a flower. A perfect flower. Well, it's even kept some of it's colour." 

"Yes, very pretty, very pretty. Hm," the Doctor hummed, not giving his granddaughter the slightest bit of attention. 

Scarlett rolled her eyes at him, getting on her knees too. "It _is_ beautiful," she commented. As the teachers decided to join them again, Scarlett called out, "Come see what Susan found!" 

"Oh, that's beautiful," Ian commented. 

"Isn't it? I'm going to try and pick it and keep it all in one piece," Susan decided, reaching for it. 

"Oh, be careful," Ian warned. "It'll be very fragile. There we are." He reached down for her, picking it up. 

"Beautiful. When I get it back to the ship I'm-" 

"Ian!" Barbara called. 

"-going to put it into a glass and-"

"Ian!" 

"Coming, coming," the man commented. 

And he put the flower in Susan's hands, and it broke.

As Susan pouted, Scarlett stood to stand beside her, brushing off her knees. She put her arms around Susan. "Don't worry, darling. There's got to be another one around. "Come on," she called. 

"It's hideous," Barbara exclaimed. 

The girls walked over to the subject that made Ian break

"Yes, it is. It's also significant. Nothing on Earth could look like this," Ian commented. 

Barbara knelt before it. "It looks like some sculptor's nightmare." 

The Doctor, who was behind the long since dead creature, examined it. "Yes, it's certainly alien to anything on your planet. But you're wrong about one thing, Chesterfield. This isn't like everything else. The animal is solidified, certainly, but it's not crumbly stone. It's metal." He knocked on it. "Yes, it always was."

"What, even when it was alive? But that's impossible," Ian exclaimed. 

"Why? Can't you imagine an animal unless it's flesh, blood and bone, hmm? No, I tell you this is an entirely different formation. I should say originally it was some pliable metal held together by a magnetic field, or an inner magnetic field, rather, and it may have had the ability to attract it's victims towards it, if they were metal too.

"We're not on Earth, then," Barbara asked. 

"No, certainly not," the Doctor confirmed. 

"Are you sure?" Ian asked. 

"He said certainly," Scarlett tried to say, but broke down into laughter. 

"What are you laughing about?" the Doctor asked. 

"'Where are we?' 'No idea.' 'Think we should stay safe in the TARDIS?' 'No, let's go explore!'" she mocked the Doctor and Ian making an argument they never had. 

The Doctor gave her a playful glare. "And you needn't look at me like that, young man. We started this journey far too hurriedly to make any calculations. You know that as well as I do. However, we're alive." 

"Hey, Grandfather, look. The jungle ends over there," Susan stated. 

They had a little conversation and Susan went to tell the teachers of the Doctor's plan.

Scarlett shoulder-bumped him gently. "I'm sorry for mocking you," she muttered. 

"It's quite alright. I understand you were simply trying to brighten everyone's spirits." 

Scarlett rocked on her heels. "Can you really find out where we are in the entire universe by the stars?" she asked. 

"Almost nearly. The universe is infinite, my dear. Like your earrings." 

Scarlett glanced up at him through her eyelashes. "As I'm not too eager to go back home, will you teach me? Some time?" she requested. 

The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "Of everywhere we go. And... I have maps on the ship." 

Scarlett grinned, ever so happy. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, hugging him against his will. 

When Ian came over, he laughed at them. 

Scarlett quickly parted and corrected herself walking back toward Barbara and Susan. 

"Well now, are we ready?" the Doctor asked. 

"Oh, Doctor, have you worked out yet how all this happened?" Barbara asked. 

"No, not really, not really. Whatever it was destroyed everything that was living, but the planet is dead, totally dead," he proclaimed. 

"Barbara, Doctor. Over here," Ian called. 

They all went to where he stood along a cliff. 

"What is it, Chesterton? We really must get back to-" He cut himself off upon seeing a plain which led to a city. "Most fascinating." 

"A city, a huge city," Barbara said in awe. 

The Doctor pulled out and put on a pair of binocular glasses. 

"Well, Doctor? Can you see anything? Any sign of life?" Ian asked eagerly. 

"No, no, no sign of life. No, just buildings. Magnificent buildings, I-"

"Oh, let me have a look," Susan requested, cutting the Doctor off. "It's fabulous. Here, you have a look." She handed Barbara the glasses. 

As Barbara got closer, Ian approached and huddled with the Doctor. "What do you think, Doctor?" 

"I don't know, I don't know," the Doctor replied, so eloquent. 

Barbara handed Ian the glasses. 

"Whatever it was destroyed the vegetation here certainly hasn't damaged the city. But there's no sign of life. No movement, no light, no. No, I shall know more about it when I've been down there." 

Barbara stepped in front of the Doctor. "Down there? Oh, no. We're going back to the ship," she stated firmly. 

"Now, don't be ridiculous. That city down there is a magnificent subject for study, and I don't intend to leave here until I've thoroughly investigated it." 

"We can discuss back in the TARDIS, Doctor," Scarlett declared. "It'll be dark soon."

"Yes. Whatever you decide, it's too late to get down there now," Susan agreed. 

"Yes, yes, yes, all right then. But I assure you I'm determined to study that place," the Doctor declared. 

"You can do what you like, as long as you don't endanger the rest of us," Ian said, ushering Susan and Barbara ahead of him. 

"Very well then. I shall look at it myself, alone." 

Ian walked in front of the Doctor. "You're the only one who can operate the ship. I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Doctor. Your glasses." He held them up. 

The Doctor took them, holding them to his chest along with his hat. 

Ian began walking, stopped, and turned to watch the Doctor. The man sighed, following the humans and his granddaughter. 

Scarlett took up the rear. She stopped when she saw one of the flowers Susan seemed to like. She bent down to pick it up and put it in her jacket pocket on the inside. Hearing Susan scream, she raced forward and grabbed her, hugging the poor child. "Susan, Susan, shh," she sort of cooed. "It's all right. I've got you. You're safe now," she whispered. "Come on." She nudged Susan forward and they walked forward, to the TARDIS. 

"What is it?" Ian asked, reaching them. 

"Let's wait until we're in the TARDIS," Scarlett said gently. 

*****

The Doctor left the room, telling Susan a person would be impossible.

Scarlett scoffed from where she was sitting on Susan's desk. "Don't listen to him," the 'old New York' accented woman insisted. "He's just a stubborn old man, and you know it." She nudged Susan with her shoe. 

Susan giggled and pulled out some paper and started drawing. 

"What are you drawing?" Scarlett asked. 

"The flower we saw in the jungle." 

"Hm," Scarlett hummed. She glanced up and saw Barbara coming in. "I'll be right back," she told Susan, tapping her shoulder before hopping off her desk, leaving the room. 

She walked around random halls of the TARDIS. "All right, Sexy. Do you know where I might find a cloche bell jar?" she said softly. A door materialized right beside her and she jumped. Going inside, she walked up a set of stairs. She was in the Cloister Room, she realized. Scarlett laughed. "No, Sexy, a cloche bell _jar_." 

The room lit up. 

"Alright, alright," she muttered. Walking around, she found another door. "Here?" she asked, reaching for the doorknob. It wasn't locked so she turned the doorknob, going up more stairs. "Is this my work out plan?" Scarlett asked. The ground beneath her vibrated. "Was that a laugh?" she wondered. The ground rippled again. "I'll take that as a yes." She walked across the room.

But the room was empty other than a stand in the middle. 

Scarlett walked up to the stand. 

It was an ordinary stand, but did indeed have a cloche dome jar. Up the middle, it had a pole going straight up with a flat top. On the top, there was a pocket watch on display. Scarlett heard whispers. She reached out and took off the lid, reaching for the watch. With it in her hand, the watch felt warmer than it should've been. 

 _"You'll be safe from the war,"_ a woman whispered. 

 _"I'm so sorry,"_ another person declared before there was an intense pain. 

Startled, Scarlett dropped the watch and backed away. The ground sucked it up and plopped it back up in the stand. Scarlett approached it again and put it beside the stand. She pulled out the flower and balanced it perfectly. She put the pocket watch in her jacket pocket and put the lid back on the wooden base. Scarlett went back to the door and yanked it open, finding herself across the hall from Susan's room. "But... I.... Now, that is cool," she muttered. 

She walked back into the room to find Susan standing behind Barbara. She tapped Barbara on the shoulder and rushed in front of her. "No. It was like that. A light touch on the shoulder. I couldn't have been mistaken," she insisted. 

Scarlett looked up at the ceiling. _'It was only a few moments to them, wasn't it?'_ she thought. The ground rippled again. 

Barbara turned to her. "Well, I believe you," she stated. 

"But Grandfather says that it's impossible for anyone to live out there," Susan said. 

"And yet, this did," Scarlett called out, walking further in. She put the case with the flower on Susan's desk. 

"Oh, it's beautiful," Barbara commented. She turned to Susan for a moment. "Oh, look. Why don't you just try and forget it for the moment?" Then she turned back to the flower. 

Susan nodded. "For the moment," she consented.

"Mmm," Barbara suddenly murmured. 

"What's wrong?" Scarlett asked. 

"Headache," Barbara muttered. 

"Oh, we have something for that!" 

Susan left, getting a glass of water and some drops of something. 

Barbara was holding her head when the Doctor and Ian came in. "Oh, what's the matter?" he asked, his hand on Barbara's shoulder. 

"Oh, I've suddenly got this terrible headache," she explained. 

"Oh, dear, dear, how irksome for you." He walked toward a machine, noticing what Susan was doing. "Oh, this stuff is very good. This should cure it. Now, not too much, dear, not too much." 

"No. Oh, Grandfather. I'm sorry I was so silly just now," she apologized. When he patted her shoulder, Susan perked up and turned back to Barbara. "Here, try this." She gave Barbara the drink. 

"Thank you." And she downed it. "Oh, it's very nice." 

"Let's hope it does you some good," Ian proposed. 

Susan took the cup back and put on top of some machine. 

The Doctor was nibbling at something deposited from the machine. 

Scarlett dug around in her purse, pulling out a circle of yarn. 

"How's your headache now?" Susan asked Barbara. 

"Oh, it's much better. I don't usually get them at all" the teacher replied. 

"Susan, would you like something to eat?" the Doctor asked. 

"No thanks, I'm not hungry," the Time Lady replied. 

"Oh, child, that's unusual. I do hope your affects outside the ship hasn't affected you too much. What about you, Scarlett?" the Doctor offered. 

Scarlett who was playing the Cat's Cradle, looked over her shoulder. She shrugged. "I'm not very hungry," she said. 

Barbara walked over to her. "Look at this," she said. She showed Scarlett the bar. 

"That's remarkable," Scarlett commented. Without looking, she started Jacob's Ladder. "How many calories is that?" she asked. 

"The same as normal eggs and bacon," the Doctor explained. 

"And it provides all the nutrients?" 

"Indeed." 

"Like all things on this ship, extraordinary," she commented. "Much like it's size," Scarlett shot towards the Doctor. "I went exploring the ship." 

"Did you?" the Doctor asked. 

"I did. I was looking for a cloche dome jar." 

"And where did you end up?" 

"The Cloister Room." 

"Hm." 

"I think I'll go to bed now," Susan called. 

"Right," the Doctor agreed. 

"Do you want to know where you can sleep, Miss Wright?" 

"Oh, yes," Barbara replied. 

There was a strange knocking noise. 

"What's that?" Ian asked. 

The knocking noise continued. 

"The scanner," the Doctor proposed. They all walked toward the console. 

"There was somebody there," Susan muttered triumphantly. She went to the console too. 

But the scanner showed nothing but the trees. 

"Nothing. Not a thing," Ian grumbled. 

"But something must have made that noise," Susan insisted. 

"Look, I've had enough of this." Barbara walked over to the Doctor. "Please, can't we get out of here?" 

"Ah, but the city. I must see the city," the Doctor insisted. 

"But why?" Barbara exclaimed. 

"I will not be questioned. Uninvited passengers. I didn't invite them to the ship. I shall do what I want to do," he told them. 

Ian walked over to him. "Why endanger the rest of us by staying here?" 

Susan squeezed between them. "Grandfather, please. Please," she begged. 

The Doctor turned to Scarlett. "Are you against me as well?" 

"I don't think it'll matter. You don't know where we are. You'll want to stay no matter who's against you. Mother says you're stubborn. _That_ won't change no matter how many times your face will." Scarlett's face was somewhat smug and somewhat amused. And slightly knowing. 

The Doctor looked at everyone against him. He looked at Susan's pleading face the longest for theatrical purposes. Patting Susan's hand, he set the TARDIS to travel, but ducked under the console when he thought no one was watching. 

"Stone trees are all very well, but the next forest I walk through I want them all to be made of wood," Barbara commented. 

The TARDIS started shaking. 

"What's the matter?" Susan cried. 

"I don't know. The power take-up was rising normally and-" The Doctor cut himself off. 

"What's wrong?" Ian demanded. 

"Oh don't distract me, please." 

"Shall I trace it on the fault locator, Grandfather?" Susan asked. 

"Yes, I think you'd better, child." 

Susan ran to a glass room and looked in a window. "K7," she reported. 

"K7?" he reiterated. "Ah, yes, of course, the fluid link. Yes, yes, yes. Yes." 

Everyone but Scarlett looked under the console. The Doctor came up with a piece Scarlett was sure he'd unraveled. 

"Yes, there we are, you see. The end of it's unscrewed itself and the fluid has run out," he informed them. 

"Have you got a spare?" Ian asked, concerned. 

"Oh, no, no need for that. This is easily repaired. All we have to do is refill it." 

"Oh," Ian said, looking relieved. "What liquid do you need?" 

"Mercury." 

"Mercury. Can I get it for you?" Ian asked, his hand held out. 

"No, I'm afraid you can't. We haven't any... at all." 

"What?" He looked distressed again. 

"No. Well-" 

"Don't you carry a supply?"

"No, it hasn't been necessary. This hasn't happened before." 

"But you must have some somewhere, surely." 

"No, no. We shall have to get some from outside." 

"But where? There isn't anything outside because-"

Ian looked full of dread. "Yes. There's the city." And slightly suspicious. 

"Yes, the city, of course. Of course we're bound to get some mercury there. Yes, we're bound to. Well, I mean, what else can we do, hmm?" The Doctor sounded like a bad actor, but Will was very good. 

"Aren't we just so happy Ian thought of that?" Scarlett asked with a bad acting voice. 

"It seems we have no alternative. We have to go to the city," Ian said monotone. 

"Yes, indeed. At first light, then?" the Doctor asked. 

Scarlett walked toward her room, walking past the Doctor. "Or do we only need to screw it back in?" she asked softly, continuing on her way. 

* * *

**[Next Day]**

When they left the TARDIS, everyone had showered and changed as Susan showed them the wardrobe and Barbara her bedroom. Scarlett still had on her [favorite jacket](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/f/f0/Her_fav_jacket.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119013005) , but - underneath- wore a pair of black slacks and a strange yet lovely [blouse](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/5/5c/Love_the_top.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119013254) . Her [boots](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/0/0d/Nice%21.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119015123) were comfortable even though they didn't look like it. She still had her [gloves](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/9/93/YEP%21.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119023039) on. 

"Well, it's light enough and there doesn't seem to be anything out there. We might as well get started. Oh, and Doctor. Remember we're going to this city to find mercury, and once we've found it we're coming straight back here. Is that clear?" Ian ordered. 

"Oh, quite so, quite so," the Doctor replied before they all went outside. 

"Well, shall I lead?" Ian asked. 

"Yes, by all means," the Doctor consented. 

"Look." 

There was a small curved metal object on the ground. 

"Don't touch it, it might go off," Barbara warned. 

 Ian got down, moving around it. 

"Be careful," Susan also warned. 

"What is it, Chesterton?" the Doctor asked. 

"I don't know. Stand back, all of you," Ian said, so dramatic. He went to grab a stick. 

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Oh, for God's sake. It's a box." She approached it, bent down, and picked it up. Pulling the lid off, she showed it to the group, shaking her head. "Britons," she muttered.

"Scarlett!" Barbara called, scolding her. "That could've been-" 

"I'm American. We know weapons. Especially after the World Wars," she explained. "It's just a container. My mom has one like it for her rings. This one has vials in it." Scarlett pulled a vial out, shaking it a bit. 

"Then there was somebody here last night. They must have dropped them. I knew I was right," Susan muttered. 

"Yes. Sorry, Susan," Ian said. 

"Yes, I'd like to run a few tests on those. Susan, would you take these into the ship, please?" the Doctor requested. 

"Yes." Susan went to take the box. 

"I can tell you they're all the same liquid," Scarlett said. 

"Thank you. Oh, and by the way, did you remember the food supplies?" the Doctor asked Susan. 

"Yes. A day's supply for five. That's enough, isn't it?" Susan asked. 

"Yes, ample, ample." 

"I trust we won't be more than a couple of hours. You ready, Susan?" Ian asked. 

"Yes," Susan confirmed. 

"Come on, then. Off we go." 

* * *

 

As Ian, Barbara and Susan were in the front, Scarlett slowed with the Doctor, grabbing his arm. "I know you want to talk." 

"What else has you mother said about me?" he asked. 

"That you love adventure. You're the one who got her started on it. And that you love the mystery and surprise. But that might've been that regeneration." 

"How far in my future is this?" 

"Well... a millennia?" she guessed. "A little less. At some point you told her you were 900-ish." 

The Doctor's jaw dropped. 

"Come on," Scarlett ushered. "Before I spill more than I should." She sped up. 

The Doctor grabbed her arm. "Are Susan and I allowed to go back home?" he asked. 

Scarlett shrugged. "I dunno. She didn't say much about Gallifrey," she lied. "However she did say Rule 1: 'The Doctor lies.' And I watched you take out the fluid link."

* * *

It very metallic, angular place. The Doctor was leaning on Susan. "Do you mind if I sit down for a minute? I feel a bit exhausted." 

"You all right?" Ian called. 

"Yes, I'm just a bit tired. It was a long journey and my legs are rather weak." 

"Why don't you rest here?" Barbara proposed. "Ian, Scarlett, and I will look around and see if we can-"

"No, no, no, no, I want to look around too. I shall be all right, thank you."

"I must say, I don't feel too good myself. Look, why don't we get this over with quickly. Look for instruments, gauges, anything like that. Ideally what we want is a laboratory." 

Susan played around with the door and waved in front of a hexagonal shaped sensor. A door opened. "Ian, look!" she exclaimed. 

Ian looked around at all the separate doors. "Why don't we separate and go different ways and meet back here in say... ten minutes. All right?" he asked. 

Scarlett nodded. "Very well." And she opened the door beside the Doctor. There was a fork immediately and she went left. About 3 minutes later, she was confronted with these saltshaker-looking beings. She nearly laughed at their whisk and plunger arms. She stopped when she saw it shoot a laser. 

[[SpongeBob Screen]](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/doctorwhofanon/images/e/e7/15_Minutes_Later.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180119232733)

Barbara was brought to the same cell as her. Scarlett waved. "Hello, love," the American greeted. 


	6. The Surivors

Scarlett hugged Barbara like _she_ were the older one. 

"Stop here," they heard a Dalek outside. They both stood and Barbara pressed up against the wall. 

Scarlett ran to the other side and the door opened. 

Ian was supported by Susan and the Doctor as they all entered. 

"Susan!" Scarlett called. 

"Ian!" Barbara cried. 

"Scarlett!" Susan replied in kind. 

"Barbara, thank heaven we've found you both. Are you all right?" he asked. 

"You're bring carried by an elderly man and young woman and you're asking if _she's_ alright? Will you just kiss her?" Scarlett demanded. 

Susan giggled. "He tried to get away and they hurt him." 

"Was it the whisk?" 

Susan laughed again. 

"It shot a laser," the Doctor explained .

"Can't you stand up?" Barbara asked. 

"Not without help. The feeling's coming back, don't worry." 

"Come over here." And Barbara helped they get Ian to a sort of bench. 

He fell to sit. "How about you, Barbara? We tried to look for you and then those machines caught us." 

Barbara sat beside him. "They trapped me in some sort of lift. It seemed to go down for ages." 

Scarlett sat beside the door again, but on the opposite side she and Barbara had been before. 

"They didn't hurt you?" Ian asked. "Either of you?" 

"No. Ian, what are they?" Barbara asked. 

"I don't know. Barbara, did you notice anything? I mean, when they were moving you about. Any little thing may help us." 

"No, nothing much. They moved me from floor to floor, always in lifts. Where we are now must be miles underground. Well, there wasn't any furniture now I come to think about it." 

"I'm afraid that's not very much help," Ian stated grimly. 

"Well, anyway. They brought me in here and I found Scarlett." 

Ian turned to her. "They got you first?" he asked. 

"I told you day before yesterday I was the weakest link," Scarlett murmured weakly. 

"Scarlett," he scolded/tried to get her attention. "Did you notice anything?" 

"Someone made a monster. Probably just for the hell of it." 

Susan laughed. 

"No, I-I.... They're entirely metal." 

"So?" Ian asked. 

"It-" Scarlett shook her head. "It means something. I-I can't..." She grabbed her head. "... think straight. I think my illness is coming back on strong." 

"It's not that. We've got radiation sickness. All of us. The Doctor's pretty badly hit," Ian explained. 

"And Scarlett. Well, how do you know it's radiation?" Barbara asked. 

"We found a Geiger counter. It seems that all the time we've been in the open, we've been exposed to it," Susan explained. 

"But the radiation -ometer thing on the TARDIS read normal." 

"It must've been a delayed reaction," the Doctor explained. "I'm sure it's saying _danger_ now!" 

Scarlett smiled weakly. 

"Well, what's going to happen to us?" Barbara asked. 

"Well, unless, unless we get treatment, we shall die. Yes, we shall die," the Doctor murmured. 

"Ian, do you think they really are just machines?" Barbara asked. 

"What do you mean?" Ian wondered. 

"Well, I was going to say, do you think there's someone inside them?

Susan laughed again. 

"That's a point. We haven't any idea what's inside them." 

"Anyone else wish we could summon the TARDIS?" Scarlett asked. 

"It wouldn't go without the Mercury," Barbara stated. 

"No, that was a lie by the Doctor," Ian stated spitefully. "He didn't want to argue with us all." 

"Actually, Scarlett knew about me faking the fault," the Doctor said. 

"Sure. Throw me under the bus," she muttered. 

"You knew it was a lie and didn't say anything?!?!" Ian exclaimed. 

" _He_ is a stubborn old man. _And_ he's the _only_ one who drive the ship. You could fight him all you like! If he wanted to stay, we wouldn't have gone anywhere," she said firmly. "Oh, I can't wait to tell my mum about this." 

"The Doctor may never take us back home." 

"He doesn't have to. While I'm American, my mum is Scottish. She'll tear time apart just to get me back," she stated a bit smugly. 

*****

Susan and Barbara were helping Ian walk around. Only one leg was currently working. 

Scarlett was going in and out of it. She was brought back to reality when she heard a thump. She saw Ian on the ground in front of her and laughed. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm trying to walk on my own. It's no good.

"Come on, sit down. It'll wear off in time," Barbara said. She and Susan helped him limp to the bench again.

"How are you feeling, Barbara?" Ian asked. 

"Not too good," his colleague panted. 

"Scarlett?" he called. 

"Better when I saw you fall," she murmured. 

Ian waved her off. "You're fine." He turned to the youngest. "Susan?" 

"Well, it doesn't seem to have affected me as much as the rest of you," she declared. 

"Young Time Lady immune system," Scarlett grumbled with jealousy. 

The Doctor came back in, stumbling. 

"Grandfather!" Susan called, rushing to keep him standing. Barbara ran to help. 

"Are you all right?" Ian called. 

Scarlett sat up straighter. 

Barbara and Susan helped him sit. He panted a bit. 

"What happened?" Susan asked. 

"Does anyone else look at those guys and think 'saltshaker'?' Scarlett asked. 

Everyone in the room laughed weakly. 

"The phial of drugs left outside the Tardis, remember?" the Doctor asked. 

"The one you all thought was a bomb? Sure!" she sang. 

"It's possible that they may have been anti-radiation gloves. Drugs. I can't be certain, but it does give us a chance. The people here, whoever they may be, are very eager to get hold of them." 

"None of us are in very good shape to go and get them," Ian stated. 

"Oh, I could do it," Barbara proposed. 

"No, it must be me," Ian declared. 

"It's the 20th Century and every man in America and England has a Hero Complex," Scarlett muttered. "You can't even walk!" 

"Oh, I'll be all right in a couple of hours," Ian insisted. 

"Hero Complex," Scarlett reiterated. 

"Whoever goes must be very careful. As far as I can ascertain, the creatures out there are the ones who dropped the box. They're called Thals. They're mutations." The Doctor shifted to sit differently. 

"So it wasn't our captors who left the drugs behind?" Ian asked. 

"No. If they were drugs. I've learnt quite a lot from the Daleks." 

"The who?" 

"The Daleks, our captors here. Oh, if I didn't feel so. Oh. But I was right about the neutron bomb. The Daleks built this underground city as a kind of huge shelter." 

"But what about the, what do you call them, the Thals? I mean, how did they survive out there? They-"

"I don't know," the Doctor muttered, losing consciousness. 

"Doctor. Doctor? I must get that drug quickly," Ian muttered. 

Susan felt his face. 

"You can't even walk!" Scarlett repeated. 

"He's burning hot," 

"Yes. As soon as they take me to the surface, I'll ask for water. In the meantime you must keep him as cool as you possibly can. I think there's some life coming back into my toes." 

"You... _can't_... **_walk_**!" Scarlet exclaimed. 

Susan squatted in front of Ian, massaging his toes a bit.

Scarlett tried not to laugh. 

"And you can't go alone, Ian. I have to go with you," Susan stated. 

"No, I want you to stay here, Susan."

"But I can't. I must go with you."

"Don't argue with me."

"You can't get into the ship."

"All right then, give me the key."

"It's not just a question of turning the key. The whole lock comes away from the door."

"Susan, supposing these Daleks insist that only one of us goes. Then I'll have to take the key and I'll have to go on trying until the door opens."

"No, you'd jam the lock. Look, it's a defence mechanism. There are twenty one different holes inside the lock. There's one right place and twenty wrong ones. If you make a mistake, you'll. Well, the whole inside of the lock will melt." 

"There's nothing else for it, then. We must go together. Come on, let's see if I can walk."

Susan helped him stand and Barbara went to get up. 

"No, it's all right, Barbara. You take it easy. Rest. My right leg is better, you know." He fell back down. "I've got feeling in this one, but the left is just pins and needles."

A Dalek entered. _"You must leave now."_

"I'm not well enough yet," Ian insisted. 

_"You must leave now."_

"My legs are still-"

_"Which one of you is going?"_

Ian stood. He only limped a bit before falling.

Susan helped him stand. 

"You must give me more time," he insisted. 

Susan helped him walk back to the bench. "Can't you see how weak he is?" she asked in her "feel guilty" voice. 

_"There are others."_

Barbara went to stand, but fell back down. "Oh, Ian, I can't. The whole room's going round," Barbara stated. 

Ian looked to the Doctor who was still unconscious. He turned to look to Scarlett. 

"I'll go," Scarlett said. Though weak, she forced herself to stand. "My illness makes me weak almost always. And yet I walk with my head held high and I never falter. We've already proven I can fight." 

"Girls, you see how ill they both are. We can't afford to wait until I can walk. An hour might make all the difference." 

"I'm so afraid," Susan whimpered. 

"Don't be," Scarlett insisted. "I'll be right with you. Think of me as your protector. You're the brains. I'm the brawn." Scarlett turned to the Dalek. "The young female and I will retrieve the drugs," she declared. 

"Don't stop for anything. Straight there, straight back," Ian said. 

 _"Are you ready?"_ the beast asked. 

"Yes, all right," Ian said forcefully. 

Susan turned to look at Scarlett and nodded.

Scarlett held out her hand for Susan to take. "We're coming," Scarlett ground out. 

The Dalek led Susan and Scarlett out. 

When they made it to the edge of the city, the Dalek went back and - still holding Susan's hand so they'd keep pace - the girls took off running. 

*****

When Susan fell, Scarlett pulled her back up and made her start running again. 

*****

They made it, and Susan pulled the key from under her shirt before shoving it in the lock. 

"Did I ever tell you my mother gave me a TARDIS key?" Scarlett asked as they walked in and caught their breath. 

"No. How would she have a TARDIS key?" Susan asked. She grabbed the box of drugs. 

"She travels with him. In the future. I grew up getting told stories about the funny, enigmatic Doctor." 

"And me?" Susan asked. 

Scarlett shrugged. "I think you're on Gallifrey." She didn't mention that Gallifrey no longer existed. If they were only refugees, the war had not ended yet. As the Doctor was only just finding out about the Daleks, she assumed it hadn't even started. "Let's head back," Scarlett stated.

Susan nodded. "We must. We must," she chanted. She opens the doors again and they stepped out into the storm. 


End file.
